JUNE 2017 | Joanne Eisemann

AFTER 11 YEARS of growing to support 120 artists, one of Deloraine’s popular art and craft retail outlets,  Elemental Artspace has downsized and moved.  The new location, 29 West Church St was formerly the home of The Black Hen and the Artists’ Garret.

Proprietor Cindy Watkins says of the move, “Initially I moved the shop to the old Harris building so I could have a studio to work in and found that with managing the business I never had time to get into the studio.  I probably hadn’t been up there and produced work for about 4 or 5 months.

“The business had taken over my life completely and I worked 7 days a week for 11 years. Now it’s time for me to do something a bit different.

“When it was smaller, I actually had time to make stuff.  So it’s getting that balance.

It’s really hard between having something you enjoy and something that is producing an income.  It’s quite tricky and I think that a lot of small business owners have the same issues.

“In all, I’ve loved it.  I’ve had an absolute ball in this business.  It’s been really rewarding and fulfilling.  I certainly didn’t make my fortune, which is fine, but it did let me home educate my kids.  The business let me have a lifestyle that I wanted at the time.”

Cindy has moved her haberdashery and fabric business to the new location plus a small selection of artists will have their works on show.

“It’s really hard because I would love to take them all, but it’s such a smaller space and my fabric takes up a rather large area,” shares Cindy.

Among the fabric stocked will be a range of Cindy’s own design fabrics exclusive to Elemental Artspace

“It’s quite popular, we sell a lot of that.  A lot of it is Tasmanian animals and things like that, so tourists like it, explains Cindy adding “We are sticking to the Tasmanian handmade thing as well, with the actual products that we sell.  Eventually, I will do classes again, but it’s going to be a little while.”

Cindy is looking forward to having some more time to spend on her own textile work for which she is widely known, recently receiving a judge’s commendation in the World Quilt Competition and second place in the Blessington Quilt Challenge

“The first prize, which I would have loved, was a trip for 2 to the Houston Texas Quilt show and a $6,000 gift voucher to buy whatever one wanted. It was worth about $15,000, but I got second and received a $3,000 gift voucher to buy stuff from their company, which was awesome,” comments Cindy.

Initially the hours for the new studio will be four days per week, Tuesday to Friday, and perhaps some weekends.

Photo | Mike Moores